JUST WATCHED

CNN Exclusive: Holder fears 'lone wolf'

MUST WATCH

Story highlights

Eric Holder tells CNN he is worried about an individual terrorist attack on the U.S.

Attorney general also said he rejected pleas for clemency in the Edward Snowden case

He has come under fire for the botched gun-trafficking program "Fast and Furious"

Holder on mass gun violence: "It can't be the new normal"

Attorney General Eric Holder is most afraid of a terrorist attack on the United States from a so-called "lone wolf," such as the attackers involved in the Washington Navy Yard and Los Angeles International Airport shootings.

"I'm very concerned about individuals who get radicalized in a variety of ways, sometimes self-radicalized," the nation's top law enforcement officer told CNN's Justice reporter Evan Perez in an exclusive interview.

Just days after a shooter entered LAX airport and killed one Transportation Security Administration worker, Holder rejected the idea to arm those officers.

"Now, that doesn't mean that we shouldn't review the measures that are in place to keep people safe from the time that they get out of their cars and go into the terminals," he said.

In the wide-ranging conversation Tuesday, he also said that he rejected demands from supporters that NSA leaker Edward Snowden be offered clemency.

As President Barack Obama's top legal expert, the attorney general deflected a question about whether he has gotten a free pass for approving many of the surveillance tactics at the National Security Agency.

The reach of the NSA's surveillance has caused a fiery response overseas and domestically since Snowden leaked documents to The Washington Post and The Guardian newspapers.

Holder said Snowden could have addressed his concerns with government surveillance in other ways, such as through the court system.

Throughout his tenure, Holder has come under fire from Republican critics who held him in contempt of Congress. He has been under investigation, and subsequently cleared by the inspector general, in the botched gun-trafficking program "Fast and Furious." He has also taken fire for his role in defending the Voting Rights Act and reviewing cases of detainees at Guantanamo Bay.

"It can't be the new normal. It cannot be something that we accept. Uh, there is too much gun violence," he added.

As two states have legalized marijuana and voters in one of those state, Colorado, head to the polls today to vote on a marijuana tax, Holder said he doesn't anticipate any change to federal laws outlawing the drug.

Instead, he said he is looking at how marijuana laws are enforced.

While Holder plans to stay on the job, he admits that times haven't always been easy.